Beginner Question on Restores

[mcse350]

Good Morning all,

I am a beginner, we are running Arcserveit 661 on a Dell Poweredge with a 7 tape changer.

When I go to do a restore, I want to browse what we have backed up, and see the different versions. In Tree View. It lists the drives on the servers that are backed up. But when I hit the plus to expand it I get nothing. My Prune job runs every night before the backups. It is set to remove entries older than 30 days.

What am I missing here? I ran the dbmgr utility. It reported a problem in one of my databases. Last week I repaired and initialized that db. Backups have run since then but I do not see them in the restore view by tree. Should I have to scan a bunch of tapes to see what I have? I think it should remember what it backed up and the versions for the last 30days.

Thanks In Advance.
-Jeff

 

[Cyklops]

You are right Jeff, it should. A scan however will only generate a job log in which you can see what is on a tape, it will not update your database.
You mention you did some repairing on the databases and that you also initizalized ( which means emptying ) one of the databases. Did you ran the dbcheck utility on the databases afterwards ?? Did it show any results ?? How are the options for database recording set ( in job options, under operation ). Did you try a merge of a tape ( under ultilities - merge ) and find any results ??
If the database keeps on bothering you, you might think of initializing all of the databases and start with a fresh empty database ( you cannot use it anyway right now ).

let us know what you find

regards

 

[mcse350]

Hi Cyklops,

I ran a db check this morning and got a clean bill of health. That is within the dbmgr.exe gui utility. Last week I initialized the ASTPSDAT db, after repairing it. I have Six Jobs which run a Full Backup each. They each go to a different slot on the tape changer. They repeat by day of week. Prune runs before the nightly backup, at midnight. Then backup runs at 12:15am. I just checked each job options, they are set for Database Operation Option : Record Detail Info.

thanks

 

[databasebaba]

Now run a merge on the tapes that you want to restore...

Before doing a merge in the database manager goto media records... see that you dont have any records ...

After the merge is done you will be able to restore...

DatabaseBaba

 

[ekmino]

If you have no sub directories clicking the plus will not expand. You have to click on the actual name of the directory and this will list the files in the show list window. If you click the version history tab after that you should see all the versions that are recorded in the DB.

 

[mcse350]

Thanks for the replies, keep em coming

Databasebaba, I tried doing the merge. It worked fine, for that day. However today I have a clean slate once again. It seems that nightly the db gets emptied. Is that possible?

Ekmino, when I click to expand c: or d: on one of my servers, I get nothing.

If I do a merge first they will be there. But the next day it is gone again, until I do another merge.

Server Admin program, Admin Menu, Configuration. DB Engine Tab. DB Buffer 300kb. Minimum Free Disk Space 5mb. Enable DB pruning checked. Prune db records older than 30 days. Run it at 12am.

Why do I have to do a merge before I see anything in the db?

Thanks all.

 

[wamason]

If the date you merged is over 30 days, when the prune job runs the following night the details will be pruned. If you try to do a restore using a tape that was created the last couple of nights, the details should be there. When you initialized the astpdat file you actually emptied the database as Cyklops said earlier. Any details from tapes created before the initialization was done, MUST be merged in the database in order to see the details. Alternatively, if you know the session of the file or folder you need, you can do a restore by backup media and include a filter for the file or folder. This would eliminate the need to merge. With this method you NEED to know what session the file or folder is in.

 

[mcse350]

Hi Wamason,

Upon reading databasebaba's post on Monday the 21st I merged the tape from Friday the 18th. Today the details are gone, when I go in to do a restore. I would need to merge or scan again in order to see the files. And a version history gives nothing either. I would need to do multiple merges. And as you know, that takes a considerable amount of time. Frustrating when the details are gone the next day anyway.

Thanks, Any other ideas?

-Jeff

 

[wamason]

That's really strange. The details for Friday should still be there. You can test if the pruning job is deleting all recent details by putting the prunung job on hold.

 

[Stacy12]

I have noticed this with AS2K as well when we run a merge and do not immed. schedule a restore the next day the records will disappear. Did you check to see what your prune job is set to?

 

[mcse350]

Hi Stacy12,

I posted the settings on the prune job above.
Yesterday I put the prune job on hold to see if that helped. But the backups last night failed on another error : Client Connect to tape failed.

That doesn't happen too much and I am not overly concerned about it. My main problem is not being able to view any history without first doing a merge or scan. I'll see what happens tomorrow........Have to work Saturday this week.

Thanks for your help, any other ideas?
When backup runs successfully tonight I'll post tomorrow whether that helped.

-J

 

[mcse350]

Good Morning List!

The prune job has been on hold, and I have had two successful backups. Still I cannot expand C$ on my servers. What else can I do? I think that I may need to save out my jobs, then initialize all dbs. Then I can import my jobs again. What do you think? talk to me..

Thanks!
_-Jeff

 

[wamason]

Mcse350,

Please make sure that in your jobs options you are recording detailed information into the database. If this option is ok, initialize the database(astpdat). The database could be corrupt. Let us know what happens.